


Of Forgotten Brotherhood

by CheerfullyCynical



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Also Eudora is AWESOME and KICKASS, But in any case, Diego Hargreeves POV, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, I REALLY love fics were Diego finds Klaus in the motel, I wrote this in two hours and have no regrets, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Not Beta Read: We Die Like Men, Not too bloody, Plus I wanna get used to writing characters other than my boi Klaus, Tortured!Klaus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 17:36:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18238100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheerfullyCynical/pseuds/CheerfullyCynical
Summary: Diego got the call from Eudora just in time to see the aftermath of torture his brother had endured.XxXxXxXxXxXxXxOr, Diego and Eudora rescue Klaus from Hazel and Cha-Cha.





	Of Forgotten Brotherhood

Diego put his head in his hand, a headache coming on.

It had been a shitty couple of days. Their father had died, causing the rest of his siblings to come back to the Academy.

Though Diego hadn’t thought about it in years, seeing his family was something he had wished would have happened years ago - when he was on the streets looking at shitty after shitty apartment. It was some sort of divine intervention that Eudora had found him and asked (dragged, really) into becoming a cop.

_“The mask,” she pointed at his face accusingly, raising her eyebrow at him, “you look like an idiot. How about you get up off your sorry ass and do something with your life.”_

Diego had always been one to follow orders; following Eudora’s was just easier.

Falling in love with her was much easier than being her partner.

It wasn’t a shocker that Diego lost his place in the police academy (yes, he saw the irony in it being called _academy)._ After all, Diego firmly believed in protecting people over the law. The law got in the way.

When he lost his chance to become a cop, Eudora lost nearly all of her tolerance for him. It was a knife in the heart when she sent him packing from their – dare he say – homey apartment. He at least had a place to go by the time she threw his “ungrateful and stupid as hell” ass out.

“He’s asleep.” Luther told him, breaking Diego out of his thoughts. Diego looked over to see Five finally, blissfully asleep. At least he wasn’t puking anymore.

Diego was just about to go change, craving sleep more than he ever needed it, when Al came bursting through the door, causing Diego to grab one of his knives.

“You throw one more god damn knife at me,” The old geezer said, pointing a finger at him, “and I’m kicking you out, you here me?”

Diego smiled, knowing that it was an empty threat, “What do you need, Al?”

“Some lady friend called for you about ten minutes ago,” The man leaned his weight against the railing, looking pissed, “I’m not a message machine for you, by the way! Get your own god damn telephone line!”

“Lady friend,” Diego asked, thinking about Eudora. Why would she call him – she was pissed at him. “You mean Patch?”

“That was it!” Al said, “Said to meet you at some motel? Something about your brother.”

Diego looked towards Five, confused. That didn’t make any sense. How could Eudora find a lead about Five without ever bumping into him?

“Brother?” Luther asked, looking confused. He was never one for big picture plans, “But-”

“Klaus!” They both said, realizing with horror that they had forgotten him in this entire mess.

Al, unaware of their growing panic, left without another word, grumbling and cussing on his way out of his room.

Diego sprang into action. He grabbed every knife he had ever collected, fear cursing through his body. How could he have forgotten about one of his own?

 _“Because you never cared about him_ ,” a voice whispered, causing Diego’s guilt to grow, _“you never cared enough. He’s a burden and always has been.”_

Diego pushed away those thoughts. He didn’t have time to feel guilty. He only had time to save his idiotic brother.

“I’ll stay with Five.” Luther told him, putting a heavy hand around his arm to stop him from leaving. Diego growled at him, feeling nearly feral. He needed to _leave._ “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Diego rolled his eyes but said nothing. He grabbed his keys and rushed out the door, not bothering to hide the fact that he was covered in knives. Diego opened his car door with self-righteous fury, cursing the world.

“Please wait for me, Eudora.” he begged, doing nearly sixty on a local road.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Diego very nearly thanked every deity he knew about when he spotted Eudora waiting for him outside. She nodded at him as sped into a parking spot, his brakes squealing in protest.

“ _Shit,”_ he breathed, relieved to see her, “I’m glad you waited.”

She gave him a weird look, “Almost didn’t,” She said hesitantly, “but I figured I should have my asshole partner if I was storming into a place – Are you alright?”

Diego gripped her shoulder lightly, relishing in the fact that she was still _here_. “These people,” he told her, never more serious in his life, “they’re not your average criminals, Eudora. They nearly killed all of us back at the Academy. If you went in-”

“But I didn’t,” She told him, voice hard and filled with fierce determination. The quality that had once been so admired by Diego now only caused him grief, “And now I got you.”

It wasn’t a compliment. In fact, if anything, he was _her_ backup, not the other way around. While it had always been like that between the two of them, it felt weird for it to be so serious.

Diego groaned, truly exasperated (and in love) with her, “Let’s go find my brother.”

Eudora took lead, pushing the frays of Diego’s nerves. If she got hurt on his watch, he would never forgive himself. She looked through every open curtain of every motel room as Diego watched her back, vibrating with energy.

When the made it to the top floor, Diego lost hope of finding Klaus. If these guys knew what they were doing, they would have moved to a new location after a day of not hearing anything from the rest of the family.

However, as they rounded the corner, both Eudora and Diego heard a rhythmic, hollow bang. Diego put his fingers to his lips and peeked into the room. However, he couldn’t see a thing through the curtains.

The cleaning lady came around the corner, squeaking when she looked at the gun being pointed at her. Eudora, in all of her genius, mimed for the keycard of the room just as the banging noise stopped. The cleaning lady handed it to her without a fuss and sprinted away.

Diego took out two knives, heartbeat in his ears as Eudora ripped open the door.

Diego was expecting two mass murders, guns in hands. Instead, his eyes fell onto the bloody figure of his brother.

“ _Fuck,_ ” Diego breathed, kneeling down at Klaus’s side, filled with horror at the amount of blood on his chest. Klaus, meanwhile, was crying – his tears only further proved how dirty his brother was as they washed away the blood off his face.

Klaus made a high-pitched noise through the tape on his mouth, frantically using his head to point towards the direction of the bathroom.

Eudora and Diego moved as one. “Don’t hesitate.” He whispered to her, meaning it. Eudora always valued life, but it simply wasn’t possible this time. These guys were monsters.

Eudora nodded firmly. “Police!” She called, gun pointed at the door of the bathroom, “Come out with your hands in the air!”

Gunshots. These asshats had the audacity to shoot _through_ the door. By some miracle, Eudora remained unharmed. In fact, in a fury he had never seen before, she ripped open the door of the bathroom and opened fire. Diego, on instinct, threw two knives.

They soared through the air, just squeezing past the opening of the door.

There was a cry of pain. Diego ran towards Eudora, scared to death that they had hit her. Instead, when Diego finally got a glimpse into the bathroom, he saw that one of his knives had made it directly into the chest of the guy. A bullet had taken care of the lady.

Before Diego could feel relief, Klaus made another desperate noise, sounding nearly hysterical. Diego ran to him once again, pulling lightly at the tape on his mouth.

“ _Thank you,_ ” his brother told him, not quite looking at him. “ _Thank you, thank you._ ”

“I got you, Klaus,” Diego told him gently, guilt heavy on his heart. What had these monsters done to his brother? “It’s g-gonna be a-alright.”

Klaus looked _at_ him, instead of through him, “Diego?” He asked, twitching at something Diego couldn’t see.

“Yeah, bro,” He told him, cutting the tap away from his brother’s wrists. They were red and angry, meaning that his hands weren’t getting enough circulation. “I’m here, o-okay? We’re gonna bring you h-home.”

This only made Klaus cry harder. Diego couldn’t tell if they were cries of joy or cries of pain. Either way, it cut him to the bone.

Eudora was beside Diego, cutting off the other piece of tape, “We gotta go,” She told Diego, even as her hands gently helped his brother to his feet. “Someone had to of heard those gunshots.”

“Your gun,” Diego said, having a terrible thought. What if Eudora got caught for this? “Ballistics might-”

“No time!” She told her, helping him lift his brother. When was he so light? Shit, there was too much going on. Diego couldn’t focus.

“Hurts.” Klaus moaned suddenly, just as they managed to shove him on to the backseat.

Eudora and Diego shared a look.

“I’ll drive.” She stated, getting into the driver’s seat without another thought. Diego went around the other side of the car and opened up the back seat. He gently lifted Klaus up and put his head on his lap.

Eudora took off, tires spinning.

“Klaus,” Diego asked, holding onto his brother’s hand. He didn’t even realize he had grabbed it. Diego’s question died in his throat the moment sunlight hit his brother’s chest.

Cut after cut littered his brother’s body. Along side them, angry red burn marks with slashes in the middle of them. One particularly long cut went from Klaus’ collarbone all the way to the top of his ear. His fingernails, always painted black, were gone. And his hands were still and ugly - a pale and blue mixture that meant low circulation. His face was black and blue all over, his one eye nearly swollen shut.

His brother was also sweating – he was going through withdrawal.

Klaus moaned suddenly once again. “Shut _up_.” He said lowly, opening his eyes so suddenly that Diego’s heart skipped a beat.

“Not you,” Klaus said, looking insane, “my new posse demands attention.”

“You’re seeing ghosts?” He asked him, surprised. Klaus’ detox was much faster than Diego ever expected.

“Always seeing ghosts,” Klaus complained, but then laughed – something sad and pathetic. “But at least Ben is here with me. He’s just so darn stubborn when it comes to my health.”

“ _He’s_ Number Four,” Eudora said suddenly, fulling turning around after having parked outside the Academy. “The one who can see dead people?”

“You say it so _casually,”_ Klaus answered for him. He had yet to move from Diego’s lap. Maybe he couldn’t do it. “Did Diego tell you all about the rag team or are you a fan of Vanya’s well written masterpiece?”

Eudora raised an eyebrow at him, “Both.”

Klaus laughed, “ _Yay._ ”

“Okay,” Diego said, questioning his own sanity. There was no way he was letting these two interact yet, especially when Klaus was vulnerable to say anything. “Let’s get you inside.”

“Ben says that he likes you, detective.” Klaus said suddenly, stopping Diego in opening his side of the door, “Also, Diego, you’re an asshole.”

Diego looked at his brother – really looked. All this time, he thought that Klaus had made up talking to Ben to get attention. In fact, it was easy to dismiss Klaus’ random mumbling, especially because they all thought it was the drug's work. But all this time, was Klaus actually talking to their dead brother?

“Come on,” Diego said gently, holding back what he truly wanted to say…

_I’m sorry. I should have believed you. I should have been there for you. I should have listened to you._

“Let’s let mom take a look at you.” He said instead.

Eudora got out of the car and opened the passenger door for Klaus. Gentler than he had ever seen her, she took Klaus’ wrist lightly and pulled, bringing him into a seated position.

“Ow.” Klaus said with no bite. As Klaus swung his legs out onto the ground, he stopped.

“Thank you for finding me.”

Diego’s knees nearly buckled. The guilt on his shoulders was heavier than ever. Feeling like shit, he said nothing for a long moment. He swung his brother’s skinny arm around his shoulders and helped him up the Academy steps.

“Always.” He whispered to him, feeling sick.

At least, Diego swore, always from now on.

Klaus was stolen from his arms the moment he opened the door. Pogo took one look at Klaus and called for their mom. Mom rushed into, cooing at them and saying something about getting her medical kit in her sweet voice.

Diego, somehow, had gotten his hands on a phone. He called each of his siblings, calling an emergency meeting and demanding that they be at the Academy as fast as they could.

When they all got there, Diego said only two words:

“We failed.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Once again, this is me getting used to these lovely bunch of characters. Let me know how I did! Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!


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